Rail fastening means



P 1941- I R. T. SCHOLES 2,257,077

RAIL FASTENING MEANS Filed July 12, 1940 Patented Sept. 23, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAIL FASTENING MEANS Richard T. Scholes, Hinsdale, 111.

Application July-12, 1940, Serial No. 345,211

3 Claims.

scribed and claimed in my said prior application,

the instant fastening device comprises a clip in the form of a spring plate which bears at or adjacent to its inner-end upon the rail flange and at or adjacent to its outerend upon the tie, tie plate or other rail support; which is designed to be fastened by fastening means exerting force downwardly upon the medial portion thereof; whichhas its center of flexure substantially coincident with the center of-application of the fastening means; which has a normal form such that when it initially is applied in its unflexed and unstressed condition its medial portion has a predetermined clearance from or spacing above the rail support; and which embodies in its medial portion a contact face for engagement with a stop afforded by the rail support and which contact face also is disposed substantially coincident with the center of application of the fastening means, whereby, upon downward application of the fastener and downward flexing of the medial portion of the clip until its contact portion comes to a full stop against the rail support, the clip thereupon exerts a predetermined amount of downwardly applied spring pressure upon the rail flange and the rail support. The great advantage thereby obtained is that all of a number of the fastening devices exert the same predetermined yieldable holding power upon the rail, as distinguished from prior art fastening devices which exert neither predetermined nor equal holding powers upon the rail.

Special objects of the present invention are: to I provide a fastening device of the character stated embodying novel fastening means for the spring clip which distributes stress uniformly across said clip, thereby reducing liability of breakage of the clip; which eliminates any necessity of providing a fastener accommodating hole or holes through the clip with consequent weakening of the clip; which fastens the clip in an exceptionally secure manner, and which cooperates with the clip to prevent the latter from skewing same consists in the features of novelty as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the different views:

Figure 1 is a sectional view illustrating a portion of a tie, a portion of a tie plate seated upon the tie, a portion of a rail seated upon the tie plate, and a fastening device constructed in accordance with the invention for yieldably holding the rail against upward movement relative to the tie plate, the fastening device being shown in an initially applied position prior to having spring energy stored therein.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the fastening device in finally applied, spring energized position.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the assembly shown in Fig. 2; and

Figure 4 is a transverse section through the assembly shown in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail, A designates a portion of a cross tie, B designates a portion of a tie plate seated upon said cross tie, C designates part of the base portion of a rail seated upon said tie plate, and D designates, generally,

one practical form of the present rail fastening device.

The device D consists simply of a clip member ill in the form of 'a plate of spring steel or other suitable material of suitable length, width and thickness, and a fastener therefor in the fo of a staple ll.

By a rolling or pressing operation, or operations, or in any other suitable manner, the clip It] has imparted theretoundulations which extend transversely thereof, that is to say, longitudinally with respect to a rail with which the plate is 'operatively associated. From a point near or turning from its operative position, thereby aiding materially in preventing rail creepage.

With the foregoing and other objects in view,-

its outer end to a point spaced a suitable distance inwardly from its outer end said clip is arched as indicated at l2. Continuing inwardly from its arched portion I2 said clip is depressed as indicated 'at 13, and continuing inwardly from its depressed portion l3 said clip again is arched as indicated at it, this arched portion extending to or nearly to the inner end of said clip. At its outer and inner ends said clip may be curved upwardly any suitable amounts to provide rounded under surfaces to engage the upper face of the tie plate B and the upper face of the base flange its operatively applied position with its inner end portion engaged with the upper face of the rail flange at a point suitably spaced inwardly from the outer edge of said flange, its outer end portion is engaged with the upper face of the tle plate at a point suitably spaced outwardly from the outer edge of the rail flange. 1

The bottom or under side of the depressed portion l3 of the clip I!) Constitutes a contact face l5 for engagement with a stop constituted by the upper face of the'tie plate B, and in the normal or unflexed condition of said clip III the said contact face I5 is spaced a predetermined distance a: above the upper face of the tie plate. t

The depressed portion I3 provides not only the contact face l5, but a recess in the top of the clip Ill extending thereacross and constituting a seat for the bight portion 16 of the staple I l which is employed to. flex and fasten said clip. The distance between the inner faces of the legs I! of the staple H is slightly in excess of the width of the clip l0, and in the tie plate B are punched holes is to accommodate the legs; of said staple so that said legs may be driven into the tie'A. If desired, the legs of the staple may be notched as v shown or may be formed in any other suitable manner to eifectively resist'or make diflicult their extraction from the tie A once they are driven therein.

In applying the fastening device the legs of the staple II are inserted into the tie, plate holes 18 and the staple then is .driven partly home.

The clip l then is positioned between the legs of the staple with its depressed portion I3 underlying the bight portion it of the staple. The staple then is driven completely home as determined by engagement of the contact face I of the clip III with the stop constituted by the underlying portion of the upper face of the tie plate 13 as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. By driving the staple home the medial portion of the clip I0 is flexed downwardly a definite, predetermined amount and thereby adeflnite, predetermined amount of spring energy is stored in said clip to resiliently hold the rail seated upon the tie plate, since the dimensions and the resilience of the plate ID are, of course, predetermined to this end.

Because of the use of a staple to fasten the clip I in the manner-illustrated and described, fastening stress is distributed uniformly across the clip and any necessity of providing fastener accommodating holes in said plate is avoided. Therefore, there exists little or no'chance of the clip becomingbroken during its applicationpr while in service. In addition, a staple serves to fasten the clip very securely. Moreover, when the clip is formed with a seat for the bight portion'of the staple, as in the instant case, the clip is held effectively against shifting in any direction from its operative position.

Obviously, the use of a tie-plate is not essential, as the rail may be seated directly upon the tie. 'In that, case th outer endportion of the clip "will engage the upper face of the tie and 05 stop engageable by the contact face l5 of said clip to predetermine the amount of flexure imparted to said clip and the amount of spring energy stored therein by driving home of the staple II.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the perforate spring clip and a fastener comprising a two-pronged staple straddling the clip, the imperforat clip having inner and outer flexing end portions contacting respectively with the rail flange and with the rail support, and also having at the point of application of said fastener an intermediate flexing portion forming at its under side a stop element, the said clip being also formed so that when it is initially applied to the rail and said support its medial portion is spaced above the support for downward flexure, and said staple and said clip at the center of flexure of the latter having cooperating means positioning and holding the staple substantially. coincident with the said center of flexure.

2. Rail holding means comprising, in combination with a rail and support, a resilient imperforat spring clip and a fastener comprising a two-pronged staple straddling the clip and of corresponding width with the clip between its prongs, the imperforate clip having inner and outerflexing end portions contacting respectively with the rail flange and'with the rail support,

under side with a stop element and provided at 1 its upper side with a positioning and holding seat for the staple, the said clip being also formed that whenlt is initially applied to the rail and said support its medial portion is spaced above the support for downward flexure.

3. Rail holding means comprising, in combination with a rail and support, -a resilient imperforate spring clip having undulations and a fastener comprising a two-pronged staple straddling the clip and of corresponding width with the clip between its prongs, the imperforate clip having inner and outer flexing end portions contacting respectiveiy with the rail flange and with the rail support, the intermediate undulation of the clip constituting an intermediate flexing portion disposed at the center of flexure and forming at'its under side a stop element for engagement with the rail supportand at its upper side a depressed seat receiving the cross bar of the staple and constituting positioning and holding means therefor.

RICHARD T. SCHOLES. 

